---
id: 65c4f22498d22ed775ef8efb
title: Step 10
challengeType: 20
dashedName: step-10
---

# --description--

Now you need to check if the `node` parameter is `None`. If it is, this means that the method has reached a leaf node or an empty spot in the tree where the new node should be inserted.

Inside the `_insert` method body, replace `pass` with an `if` statement that checks if `node is None`. Note that `is` is different from `==`. In Python, `is` checks for object identity. It's used to determine if two variables point to the same object in memory. In contrast to `is`, `==` determines if the values of two objects are the same, regardless of whether they are the same object in memory.

Inside the new `if` block, return `TreeNode(key)` to  create a new `TreeNode` instance with the provided key. This will become the new leaf node, effectively inserting the key into the tree.

# --hints--

You should not have `pass` in your `_insert` method.

```js
({ test: () => assert.isFalse(runPython(`_Node(_code).find_class("BinarySearchTree").find_function("_insert").has_pass()`)) })

```

You should write an `if` statement to check if `node is None`.

```js
({ test: () =>
  {
    const transformedCode = code.replace(/\r/g, "");        
    const ins = __helpers.python.getDef("\n"+transformedCode, "_insert");
    const {function_body} = ins;    
    assert(function_body.match(/^\s{8}if\s+node\s+is\s+None\s*:/m));
  }
})
```

You should return `TreeNode(key)` from the `if` block.

```js
({ test: () =>
  {
    const transformedCode = code.replace(/\r/g, "");        
    const ins = __helpers.python.getDef("\n"+transformedCode, "_insert");
    const {function_body} = ins;    
    assert(function_body.match(/^(\s{8})if\s+node\s+is\s+None\s*:\s*^\1\s{4}return\s+TreeNode\s*\(\s*key\s*\)/m));
  }
})
```

# --seed--

## --seed-contents--

```py
class TreeNode:

    def __init__(self, key):
        self.key = key
        self.left = None
        self.right = None

--fcc-editable-region--

class BinarySearchTree:

    def __init__(self):
        self.root = None

    def _insert(self, node, key):
        pass
--fcc-editable-region--
```
